


Thrill Seeker

by poisonkirby, ValentineHoney



Category: Star Fox Series
Genre: Drug Use, Eventual Romance, F/F, M/M, Mental Breakdown, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Relationship(s), Post-War, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-01
Updated: 2019-04-01
Packaged: 2020-01-01 03:44:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18327956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poisonkirby/pseuds/poisonkirby, https://archiveofourown.org/users/ValentineHoney/pseuds/ValentineHoney
Summary: After the events of the Aparoid invasion and the Queen's demise, things have gotten quiet. Too quiet for some.





	Thrill Seeker

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to PoisonKirby for being my beta reader and helping with grammar!  
> Enjoy

The sound of beams ripped through the vacuum of space. Space was but a grand battlefield for them. Despite being in the cockpit, one can just feel the sheer speed of each ship flying past making the small shuttle jittering a bit from the sudden motion. The only thing better than that was the pure adrenaline rush of a battle amongst the stars. More beams and fire sound off one by one ringing in the ears.  
Ringing.  
....  
Beeping? 

It wasn't enemy fire, but an alarm clock tugging at him from sleep like a stubborn root vegetable. He doesn't do dog fights anymore. For now at least.

With a long drawn out groans, a crinkly paw from the rumpled sheets snakes out and slapped the clock to the ground. It still continued to ring. Oh how he wished it was the alarm of the Great Fox or at least something less high pitched. Sinking into the mattress, he tried to drown out the sound. It wasn't going away anytime soon. It just kept going on and on and on an- OKAY HE GETS IT!

The begrudging mass of unkempt fur rose from his slumber to glare at the ringing fuss on the ground. It was a disheveled Fox McCloud. What a rare sight for anyone that wasn't on his team. His thin glowering eyes at the clock soon turned into circle plates of panic.

'6:06' it read. Of course he's late.  
Of course he is!

That got him up pretty fast. Scrambling out of the mess of blankets and onto his feet, he made his way to the bathroom. Internally cursing himself out while he brushed his teeth and tried to detangle his fur the best he could. The panicking vulpine didn't have time to brush his tail as he started to pick out his clothes. How could have he forgotten about the meeting today? They had 4 meeting this past week, in fact. Fox tried to forget how brain numbingly boring they were as he gulped down his coffee. It had been then he had realized the car honking outside had bled into his alarm. 

"FOX COME ON!!" Falco was at the wheel. 

Finally, Fox scurried out the door and into the car. Falco didn't even wait for McCloud to put on his seatbelt as he floored it. Fox was almost tossed to the window.

"You're sooo lucky I'm the loyal type." The bird was so chill despite driving like a maniac.

Soon they were at the building. It was a large government building like any other in Corneria city. Fox would say it's nice to see one from below, but after the first fifty times it had worn it's charm.

Entering the room, he had seen the same old worn canines and some other animals sprinkled in from before. Pepper was never among them since they were still testing him for apardoid traces. The Cornerians were very jumpy after losing so many troops. He couldn't blame them, but he just hoped the general was doing alright. Shuffling into a seat he noticed at least Pepper's lieutenant, O'Connor, was there for his rare appearance. And then In middle of them all was a canine that stood up straight and rigid. In the general's place, was Commander McAllister. A boxer looking mutt that was currently power drunk. Fox didn't like that know-it-all attitude. He could tell the mongrel was already glaring daggers into his forehead for being late and for looking like he got an old broom shoved up his ass. In contrast, O'Connor's gaze was kinder for having not seen him in a long time. He had held the same fondness Pepper had for the McCloud family.

As for his team, Slippy and Krystal were there. Peppy, like Pepper, was taken in for scanning and recovery. Both old men that had cared for Fox were taken out of the picture. He would be lying if he said it didn't make him feel pressured in every meeting so far. Busying his mind as the meeting began, he looked over to this team. Krystal had her tablet and stylus at the ready to write down and color code whatever they talked about. It was essential to understanding since the army men threw around old events and numbers that made no sense to the Star Fox team. Well everyone but Slippy, unfortunately the frog had a tendency to go to the bathroom out of his extreme anxiety about these gatherings. He was already getting up to go too. Fox exhaled through his nose as he noticed Falco drifting off to a nap. It was only a matter of time before the meeting began to pick up.

While Slippy and Falco were out, a heated debate broke out. They were arguing over the same damn topic from last week. It was getting tiring to tell the Cornerian army over and over that his team didn't want to be permanently tied to them. Somehow the meeting just kept going back to it.

"Haven't we all talked about this already?!" Fox exclaimed obviously frustrated.

Someone seemed to agree. "McCloud is right!" The lieutenant stood from his seat in the heat of the moment.

"O'Connor sit down." McAllister glowered at the cheetah. "You have a bias."

Embarrassed, he sat back down and coughed into his gloved paw. The commander sighed heavily and rubbed his eyes. Fox was already agitated by the others requests to reconsider and only one person so far had respected it. Only to be shot down... A small whine came from McCloud's throat.

"I wasn't asked to babysit." The commander grumbled under his breath. 

Fox's fists shook slightly. "I'm 29, sir." 

"Then act like it!" The mutt spat back at. 

And with that, the room grew silent. Tensions thickened the air. Only the sounds of low growling and Falco's soft oblivious snoring. Krystal shifted in her seat uncomfortably as she could sense all the pent up rage hidden in her teammate.

Then it was all over when Fox's ears caught the commander mumbling to himself. "If only you were more like your father."

Something cracked inside Fox at those words. His hackles stood up on their ends as his claws dug into the mahogany. His muzzle was scrunched up shaking at the audacity of the Cornerian militant's statement.

"Too bad..., I'M NOT HIM!!" The vulpine screeched. 

Before the others could comprehend his outburst, he stormed out the room slamming the door making the glass window next to it crack. Others in The board were shocked into silence. With the slam, Lombardi’s sleep was ended as he woke up and looked around the room confused but alert. A small startled noise from the bathroom door as O'Conner in the back of the room rubbed his temples.

Krystal was the first to react trailing after Fox. She opened and closed the door much more gently than him as she caught up to the fireball. She couldn't see where he went, but assumed it was towards the exit. The vixen started to run down the hall, but stopped when she had passed by a lone fox huddled on a bench. 

She approached slowly with a soft voice. "Hey." 

His voice was forced through gritted teeth. "Hey."

"Can we talk?" Krystal tilted her head.

"Sure." Even though he accepted her offer, his frizzled tail twitched with lingering displeasure. Heck, even a non telepath could see it.

Krystal proceeded with caution sitting next to him. His arms were wrapped around himself in a protective manner. The sight alone made the vixen worry deeply. Had he really been bottling this up till now?

His expression was dark. "Go ahead." The other only shook her head.

Krystal sighed and put a gentle paw on Fox's shoulder. "I know how you feel..." 

"Krystal, I think using your powers right now is not the best time." He tried to hide the anger in his voice.

"No! That's not what I meant! I mean... The past few months have been hard for all of the team. They expect so much out of us and we're just..."

"Mercenaries." Fox finished her sentence closing his eyes.

Krystal smiled small and sympathetic to the other. "Yes and I'm sure your dad would be having the same trouble in your position an-" 

"No he wouldn't. He was a military man first and a mercenary after. Commander McAllister was right..." Frustrated tears welled up in the corners of his emerald eyes. Quickly he blinked them away. "It would have gone so much easier if I wasn't here." 

Gasping she pried into the now gloomy fox's hand and held it to her chest. "Oh no no no. He had no right to say that and you know that." She could read how rapid his thoughts were moving. "You are your own person! In fact, you are the hero that saved them and they should respect that." 

"I'm not- We're not heroes. Corneria paid us." 

"But deep down you know the last thing on your mind was the payment!" 

He huffed and held himself tighter. "... Maybe so." 

Finally getting through to him she closed her eyes in content. "Let's wait here a while till you have cooled off, ok?" Fox nodded curtly.

But before they even thought about stepping back in, Falco and Slippy came out the room. Their expressions were neutral until they spotted the fox duo. Slippy rushed over and hugged Fox quickly before stepping back. The tall bird strided towards them and towered over. He looked everything but upset. 

Krystal's eyes were wide as he looked up to Falco. "What happened, the meeting is supposed to go on for another two hours."

"They concluded early." Falco was to the point. "They noticed the stress these meetings were putting on us and decided to give us a break." A tiny smirk crossed his beak. "I'd say we use this to kick back!" He gazed down to the ruffled sunshine fur. "You certainly need it, Foxie." 

After a bit of quiet Fox finally let out a weird exasperated noise. "Yeah." He then stretched standing up. "Can I get a ride home, Falco?" 

"Well duh, I got you here." The avian snickered as he motioned over the vulpine to follow him. "Come on." 

Back home it was quiet. One might say 'It's too quiet'. The vulpine snickered to himself as he hung up his jacket and he walked down to the kitchen. He didn't go out much since joining Star Fox. It had pretty much destroyed his social life. Fox wasn't used to going out and having a drink with the buddies or whatever. His life so far had been encased with training, fighting, and survival. Sometimes he could barely remember times when he had been a normal kid or... adult now. Being thrust into helping the war effort at about the age of thirteen before he had joined Star Fox officially stunted his social skills. Even trying to get back into normal life after the Lylat wars was a struggle. So he stuck to mercenary work and put off his personal life like it was homework.

Soon he had snapped out of his thoughts and put his empty plate into the sink. He stood up and stretched. Looking around the room, Fox began to wonder what he should do during his break. 

'Call a friend.'

All his friends were busy. Falco had his own friend group to tend to. Slippy wanted to catch up with his girlfriend. Bill was off on routine squad work. Katt was one of the ones in Falco's friend group. Then there's Krystal that didn't tell Fox what she was doing exactly, but she did specify it was important for her to be alone.

Fox went over to the couch and plopped himself down. 

Maybe he can visit Peppy or Pepper.... no. O'Connor?

Now that’s just getting desperate. Sighing he turned on his radio. It was classic night he could guess from the slightly static feedback. It was only the middle of the day and he had nothing to do. His head lazily tilted to his left and gazed at a picture. A picture of when he was three and his parents were at an aquarium. He couldn't recall what had happened there. The longer he stared, the more it started to ooze a mocking tone. A tone that referred back to what McAllister said. In the end, Fox caved and flipped the frame to face down on the table. 

His fiery avian friend's voice echoed in his head. 'Kick back.' 

Soon he drifted off to sleep as the old fashioned medley seeped into his dreams. 

'When I was just a little girl, 

I asked my mother what will I be. 

Will I be pretty? Will I be rich? 

Here's what she said to me:.....’


End file.
